Slow and steady: That's the outlook for Michigan job growth

10:50 AM,
Feb. 10, 2013

Architect Lucas McGrail of Livonia, at his drafting table in his home, has been jobless for four years. He's been a finalist in two recent job searches, which convinces him that things are turning around.

Written by

Architect Lucas McGrail has been without regular employment for four years since losing his $75,000-a-year construction manager job when his industry imploded during the Great Recession.

Since then, the 38-year-old has cobbled together a patchwork of part-time gigs equaling about $10,000 a year. He has also submitted more than 3,000 résumés, generated a half-dozen interviews -- and still feels like a job could be just around the corner.

"I don't want to lose who I am and what I spent all these years and all this money to become and just fade into oblivion," he said. ...